Godzilla: The Forgotten Kingdom
'Godzilla: The Forgotten Kingdom '''is an American/Japanese animated science-fiction/Ocean Punk/fantasy/Kaiju film directed by Dave Filoni in his directorial film debut produced by Shusuke Kaneko. The film is the first animated movie to co-produced by a Japanese and Korean studio as well as the first theatrical animated Godzilla movie to be portrayed through 2D animation. The movie centers around a world set a thousand years after the initial attack by Godzilla where a war between humans and their precursor allies and Kaiju have ravaged the world to the point it is nearly unrecognizable. In the middle of this is a young woman connected to Godzilla named Miki Saegusa who, after joining her childhood friend, sets off on a global expedition to find a long lost civilization that may hold the key to bringing an end to the war and unlock the secrets of her true identity. Synopsis A thousand years since Godzilla's initial attack in 1954 and the rise of legions of giant monsters called "Kaiju", humankind entered a thousand year-period of conflict with the gargantuan beasts until they were aided by several ancient civilizations such as the dinosaur-like Saurians, the cat-like Felidaenii, the fish-like Piscinians, and the reptomammalian Synapsians. However, even with their help, the world was nearly torn asunder by the years of fighting to the point humanity is forced to live in "Sanctuaries" around the world to replace the cities destroyed by the conflict. One of these Sanctuaries, called Seiikei, is home to Miki Saegusa, a young woman with psychic abilities raised by her artistic aunt after her parents were killed by an attack made by Godzilla which also led to her forging a mental connection with the King of the Monsters at a young age. One day, Miki's childhood friend, Koji Shinjo, returns from a year-long expedition to place tracking charges on the Kaiju (including a very close encounter with an Oodako and Godzilla), giving her a piece of a strange diamond he found embedded in one of the saurian Kaiju's dorsal fins. That night, Miki receives a vision of a strange city being engulfed by a dragon-like shadow and the diamond's pieces coming together from different locations all over the world. Seeing this as a sign, Miki convinces Koji to talk his superior into searching for the pieces on board the submarine the ''Lucky Dragon, unaware they are being followed by an agent working for a man named Nanirak and his leader, a gigantic monster simply known as "the Beast". Angered by the man's failure to grab the fragment of the diamond, the Beast incinerates the man and orders everyone to look for the pieces of the diamond which he calls the "Ethereal Crystal". The first location the Lucky Dragon comes across is the ruins of an ancient city rumored to be the home of a sea monster called Dagahra. Miki and Koji then set off to search for the piece. However, after retrieving the fragment, the pair are attacked by Dagahra who engages in a battle with the Lucky Dragon, killing a good handful of her crew in the process before continuing the chase after Miki and Koji to the surface of the ruins. Fortunately, before the monster can deliver the killing blow, Godzilla arrives and the two proceed to fight while the Lucky Dragon ''makes an escape. After a short, yet intense battle, Godzilla is able to kill Dagahra by impaling him on a statue's spear and using his Atomic Breath to bring down the ruins on top of the sea monster, crushing him instantly. Meanwhile, the Beast presents Nanirak a type of reptilian super soldier called Reptoids to be used against the ''Lucky Dragon ''and orders Nanirak to send an entire fleet after the submarine. The ''Lucky Dragon then arrives to the second location, an island containing the portal leading to the next fragment's resting place. Miki enters the portal which leads her to the ruins of another kingdom, only to discover the shard is protected by a dragon named Manda who angrily attacks her, believing her to be a thief. However, after Miki reveals her telepathy to the guardian, Manda immediately backs down and tells her she has protected the Ethereal Crystal shard since it is all she has left to remind her of how she failed to protect the empire of Mu (the city from Miki's dream) from the Beast. Unfortunately, outside, the Reptoids arrive and attack after Miki reemerges with the shard. Miki then dispatches the squad attacking them by using her telekinesis to bring the temple down before escaping with the rest of the crew. However, during their escape, the Lucky Dragon falls under attack by the fleet sent after them by Nanirak and sustains heavy damage. Miki then calls out to Godzilla just in time for the fleet to accidentally attack him and makes short work of it. After receiving a scathing scolding by the ship's creator, a Felidaenii named Haranka, Maki orders the Lucky Dragon head toward a location where they can lay low for a week until Haranka can arrive with the Nanometal needed to make repairs to the ship, the nearest being the home of the lepidopteran Kaiju deity, Mothra, Infant Island. Upon arriving to Infant Island, Maki beseeches Mothra to allow them sanctuary until they can continue on their journey. Mothra, after taking on a human form to communicate with them, agrees and then tells Miki to follow her. Mothra then tells Miki about what she has seen over the past thousand years, and even longer before Godzilla first appeared. She tells her about Mu and how it fell to the Beast, despite the best efforts of her, her brother Battra, Manda, and the leonesque King Caesar. She then whispers the true name of the Beast into Miki's ear. Afterwards, Miki meets up with Koji and the two take the time to have some fun and get their minds a break all culminating in the two sharing a kiss. Weeks pass and Haranka finally arrives to repair the Lucky Dragon and hands Maki a canister of Nanometal to be used in case repairs are needed again and departs back to Seiikei, allowing the crew to resume their search. Meanwhile, the Beast, angered by the failures to retrieve the second and third pieces, orders all humans under his command, excluding Nanirak, to line up and be executed. After carrying out the execution, the Beast decides it would be best to look for and retrieve the other pieces of the Ethereal Crystal himself, revealing that he and Nanirak have a shard themselves and that he has forged alliances with SpaceGodzilla, Destoroyah, Megalon, and Gigan. On the Lucky Dragon, ''Miki talks to Koji about what Mothra told her but makes him promise not to tell anyone else, more specifically the name of the Beast: Ghidorah. The ''Lucky Dragon ''then arrives to the location of the next shard; the remains of Tokyo. However, when Miki and Koji depart to look for the shard, buried in the downed tip of the Tokyo Tower, they are soon ambushed by a platoon of Reptoids as well as Ghidorah who arrives from within a storm. The three-headed dragon then proceeds to toy with the pair before kidnapping them both, but not before Miki sends out another mental message to Godzilla, alerting him about the dragon's presence. Ghidorah then destroys the ''Lucky Dragon ''and flies off, Godzilla arriving too late but just in time to catch a glimpse of the dragon. Afterwards, the survivors of the ''Lucky Dragon discover Capt. Maki is fatally wounded and hold a funeral in his honor while deciding their next move. They then appoint Maki's Ensign, Douglas Gordon, as captain with his first order being to use the Nanometal to create a new ship out of the wreckage of the old which they dub the Gotengo. Meanwhile, Nanirak brings Miki to his hiding place, the capital of the Mu empire which is filled with its people, the Naacal, cryogenically suspended in hibernation and reveals they are both descended from royalty. He also reveals to use the Ethereal Crystal to wipe clean the sanctuaries of the world and restore the Mu empire by releasing waves of energy to send the Kaiju into frenzied states much to her horror. In the midst of the rampages, Seiikei falls under attack by Rodan and Anguirus who tear the city apart before Godzilla also arrives and a battle ensues between the three. Back at the Mu capital, Miki manages to reverse the device used to madden the Kaiju to bring them to their location and escapes, searching for Koji's holding cell. Meanwhile, Mothra, Battra, and King Caesar arrive at Manda's location and convince the dragon to help them defeat Ghidorah to which Manda is skeptical about but agrees all the same. Back at Seiikei, Godzilla's battle with Rodan and Anguirus reaches fever pitch until the King of the Monsters manages to gain the upper hand and is about to kill both Kaiju before the back-flow of energy draws their attention as they, and the rest of the Kaiju all over the world, head toward the Mu capital. The crew of the newly christened Gotengo ''has a tense run-in with Godzilla and Anguirus before Mothra arrives and convinces the Monster King to set aside his hatred toward humanity and their allies at least for the time being as the crew calls for any remaining military to join them in retrieving Miki and Koji, following Godzilla's path to the energy source as they do. Back at the Mu capital, Miki finds Koji and, after a brief embrace, try to lay low from the Reptoid patrols. At that moment, the ''Gotengo ''as well as the rest of the fleets arrive, along with a machine Haranka was working on during the year-long mission Koji was on called MechaGodzilla, and a battle begins. During the battle, Ghidorah creates three serpentine energy constructs to lay siege to the ships, destroying a good number of them before Godzilla and the other Kaiju arrive. After seeing Godzilla disperse his constructs, Ghidorah descends to fight Godzilla one-on-one. During their conflict, SpaceGodzilla, Destoroyah, Gigan, and Megalon arrive to aid the three-headed dragon but are fended off by Mothra, Battra, MechaGodzilla, Manda, and King Caesar. During their fight, Nanirak, after confronting Miki and Koji, is told that Ghidorah is using him. Nanirak mentally confronts Ghidorah on this to which the dragon nonchalantly reveals this to be true, sending the Naacal into despair. Afterwards, Ghidorah attempts to kill Godzilla by flying high up and dropping him but after Godzilla grabs his leg, the two Kaiju have a fight mid-fall before hitting the ground. Godzilla, having survived the fall, rises from the crater he and Ghidorah made and proceeds to attack Nanirak's palace to which Tyros (a Saurian) and Haranka's niece Kanja have infiltrated to rescue Miki and Koji. Miki then awakens the sleeping Naacal as she orders them to evacuate immediately, trying to get Nanirak to join them. Nanirak, still in despair, refuses, saying monsters like him don't deserve happy endings and returns to his throne before Godzilla bursts into the throne room and incinerates him. With the Naacal safe, Miki, Koji, Tyros, and an injured Kanja return to the ''Gotengo only to realize Ghidorah also survived the fall. After a short battle, Godzilla is able to defeat Ghidorah using a red version of his Atomic Breath and sends him as well as the rest of his Kaiju allies into a retreat, loosing a roar of victory into the sky. Godzilla then seems to turn his attention on the rest of humanity and their allies but, instead of attacking, decides to end his war with humanity due to exhaustion. The Kaiju (minus Mothra, Battra, King Caesar, and Manda) then gather around Godzilla and bow to him as he takes up the remains of the capital as his new personal kingdom. It is then revealed the Naacal have taken up residence in Seiikei whilst others help repair the sanctuaries destroyed by the Kaiju while Miki and Koji got married and tell their children a bedtime story while Godzilla is seen on the Mu capital (now called "Monster Island") with the Kaiju bowing to him as their king.